1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic capacitor, in particular, for example, a multilayer ceramic capacitor having a capacitor main body composed of alternately stacked dielectric layers and internal electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multilayer ceramic capacitors are widely used as small and high-capacity electronic components. However, smaller, higher-capacity, and more reliable multilayer ceramic capacitors are in demand. As a material for dielectric layers for use in the capacitor main body of multilayer ceramic capacitors, a dielectric ceramic composition has been disclosed containing a main component including barium titanate, a first accessory component including an AE oxide (where AE is at least one selected from Mg, Ca, Ba, and Sr), and a second accessory component including an R oxide (where R is at least one selected from Y, Dy, Ho, and Er), the proportions of the accessory components to 100 moles of the main component meeting the following conditions: the first accessory component, 0 moles <the first accessory component <0.1 moles; the second accessory component, 1 mole<the second accessory component <7 moles.
Such a dielectric ceramic composition has high relative permittivity, long-lasting insulation resistance, and capacity-temperature characteristics meeting the EIA X8R specifications (−55° C. to 150° C.; ΔC/C within ±15%) and can be fired in a reducing atmosphere. The use of such a dielectric ceramic composition makes a multilayer ceramic capacitor smaller and higher-capacity, providing a thin-film small-sized multilayer ceramic capacitor (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-255639).